In early 2023, the Taoiseach, Micheál Martin, said that parents know best when it comes to banning youngsters from social media or imposing phone restrictions. That was in response to touted legislation in the UK that was less stringent than the Australian model being touted. However, teachers, who see the impact first hand in the classrooms, will beg to differ. The Tánaiste, the original TikTok Taois, as he has been called, said last year as well as today that the era of social media giants regulating themselves i…

As the Minister said at the outset, this is just repeat legislation that is renewed every six months. As others have said, primary legislation could have been enacted some time ago but I am glad the Minister is living up to his reputation as being a hands-on Minister so far and is moving on this. It is something that most people would very much welcome but I always include the caveat that we have a toxic relationship with alcohol in this country. Having alcohol in a context where one can sit down, have a chat and h…

In the minute I have it will be very hard to say much.

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Cathaoirleach Gníomhach. I agree with a lot of what the Social Democrats are trying to do. We do need to recognise the diversity we have and possibly take religion out of schools. It is an issue for parents to decide. Religious instruction being done outside school time makes a lot of sense. What we have in Ireland, however, is an Irish solution to an Irish problem where all the new schools - or most of them, 50 or 51 - are multidenominational. The Cathaoirleach Gníomhach has given me an ex…

Some time back, the Garda vetting review group was tasked with examining the current system to see what improvements, if any, could be made, while ensuring continued appropriate and robust checks on people taking on positions of trust working with children and vulnerable persons. While I would be interested in hearing the timeframe for the report, if officials have it to hand, the main thing I want to know is whether there is a plan in the terms of reference to deal with the perceived pointlessness of people having…

I am in two minds as I contribute to this debate. On the one hand, as my colleague said, we are here to celebrate what Europe is supposed to stand for. This year is the 75th anniversary of the Schuman declaration, which laid the foundation for European integration. From the early days of the European Coal and Steel Community, there were efforts to integrate everything to the point where it went beyond the mere pooling of coal and steel production under a single authority to a situation whereby the resources that we…

We have a moral obligation to put it up to our partners to be stronger on this issue. I have not heard that coming from the Council of Ministers.

Deputy Paul Lawless, who was due to speak, gave me a few extra minutes.

Okay. We need to do better and we need to speak more loudly.

I have mentioned this on numerous occasions but I am going to mention it again. I go back to the HighScope Perry Preschool study in the US which found that for every $1 invested in quality early education in the childcare sector and in primary school there was a $7 return. In euro terms, it has the same positive impact on children's outcomes and development. It is extremely important but we do not afford it enough importance in terms of investment or consideration for the people involved in the sector. My constitue…

The total Israeli blockade on humanitarian assistance into the Gaza Strip has now passed 60 days, in what the United Nations human rights chief, Volker Türk, has described as a "new unseen level" of humanitarian crisis. A recent report by Amnesty International stated that Israel was carrying out livestreamed genocide in Gaza, routinely targeting civilians and engaging in torture and enforced disappearances. We are on the third day of hearings by the International Court of Justice into Israel's obligations to Palest…

Maidin mhaith, a Aire Stáit. Is lá álainn é ag deireadh mhí Aibreáin. Ceapaim gur lá iontach é le dul ar thuras traenach. Is é sin an t-ábhar I am talking about today. It is a great day for a train journey but if one lives in the newer areas in my constituency, such as Adamstown, and if one is an IT professional who needs to go to the likes of Galway, one has to go all the way back into Heuston Station or wait a long time to get a connection to Portarlington. It really is not worth one's while so we need an interci…

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire Stáit as ucht a fhreagra. The reply mentions that there could be up to five minutes' delay. The whole selling point for Adamstown and Kishoge was that we have four tracks. Some of it was part of the strategic development zone scheme, as was the Phoenix Park tunnel interconnection. To put this in context, the people currently living in Adamstown and Lucan are badly served by the train service. In the context of the suburban routes, I receive numerous complaints with regard to overcrowdi…

Will the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach remind me how long I have? Is it one minute and 30 seconds?

That is short enough, but it is sufficient to say that I support the motion. I have been around as an elected representative for a long time and was involved with the education committee when the original Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act was enacted. As others have said, it is shocking that so many aspects of that legislation still have not been enacted. I was checking my notes as I was starting to speak and the only sections that have been enacted are those regarding the promotion of an inc…

I am grateful for a few minutes to speak on this very technical but necessary rubber-stamping of amendments to Regulation (EU) 2015/848 to modify its Annexes A and B, following the changes in seven EU member states, as the Minister outlined. It will ensure that the regulation continues to facilitate effective civil and judicial co-operation at EU level. The Minister mentioned that we must do this within three months and this was issued in February. It is important and technical. In July 2022, Slovakia notified the …

It looks fantastic. It is a great plan with great graphics. If one reads it line by line and bit by bit, it has so much to offer but we all know it is aspirational without the investment. I give the example of water infrastructure. We need massive investment in water infrastructure to facilitate housing. The plan references offshore energy potential. We need massive investment in our ports. To work towards it or to progress towards it is not enough. We need tangible achievable objectives. The housing targets have n…

I am generally supportive of this Bill and, unlike some of my colleagues, I see the rationale in not having juries for certain types of defamation cases. However, I have a query about the corporate entity issue, which is a follow up on what other Deputies said. Let us say there is a chain of hardware stores - let us call them Fianna Fáil hardware - and it is owned by Joe Bloggs. Let us also say Fianna Fáil hardware had a couple of defective pots of paints or whatever, but because it is the only hardware store in th…

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again. Yet, this is what we keep doing in relation to the scourge of nitrous oxide usage. The latter has led to serious injury and death in this country and is now a major source of litter in our communities. So far, it has been left to the Revenue Commissioners to deal with the issue. In that context, they seized 55,000 large canisters last year. The HSE focuses on giving advice to parents on a harm-reduction fact sheet. Otherwise, we rely on section…

Children's Health Ireland is a publicly-funded hospital group in disarray. We have had the ongoing issues with spinal surgeries, the shocking use of non-medical grade springs for scoliosis, which my colleagues mentioned so I will not go into it even though it is such an important issue, and the massive waiting lists. Later, we will discuss the large number of unnecessary hip surgeries, which again raises questions about clinical judgment and governance. Added to this, we have had alarmingly high infection rates in …